My first glimpse of Mazatlan capped a grueling 900-mile drive down the length of Baja on the just-completed Highway 1, followed by an overnight ferry across the Gulf of California. From a beach where hordes of pelicans casually milled about our feet, the city's palm trees and outdoor restaurants and boats dotting the Pacific waves were my idea of Xanadu.

Cancun was still on the drawing boards then, but after numerous visits to Mazatlan over the years I still wonder why they bothered. Mazatlan's newer Zona Dorada has high-rises, Señor Frog's and T-shirt shops if you require them, but its soul resides in the district where the city was born, now renovated and christened Old Mazatlan.

Plazuela Machado, the original Spanish settlement, brims with street theater, art exhibits and parades. Restaurants and bars move their tables into the street at night, and live music spills from every other doorway. The elegant Angela Peralta Theater is the city's cultural center, hosting a steady schedule of symphony, dance and choral performances.

I could easily spend all my time around this little plaza, but I usually manage a hike to the hilltop lighthouse and a walk down Olas Altas, the monument-studded seafront boulevard, with frequent detours down the stairs to the beach. When the mood strikes, I'll hail a pulmonia, the city's unique open-air taxi, to visit other beaches and neighborhoods. And that's why I keep coming back: Old Mazatlan combines the cultural pleasures of a colonial city and the sybaritic diversions of the beach, all in one easily walkable district.

Lodging: Just off Plazuela Machado, the Melville Boutique Hotel ( www.themelville.com) is a handsomely renovated colonial masterpiece offering apartments for daily rates starting at about $70. A few blocks down Olas Altas, the more basic oceanfront La Siesta ( www.lasiesta.com.mx) has rooms from about $40, but it's worth springing for an ocean view (up to $75).

Eating and drinking: Old Mazatlan is well endowed with casual restaurants and cafes. For a going-out-to-dinner night, Pedro y Lola ( www.restaurantpedroylola.com) offers updated regional dishes, and Topolo ( www.topolomaz.com) is known for its romantic courtyard and roasted tomato salsa prepared fresh at your table.

Word to the wise: Mazatlan generally, and Old Mazatlan in particular, is exempted from the State Department alert about the state of Sinaloa, but travel outside of Old Mazatlan and the Zona Dorada is best done during the day.